The revelation through Christian Science of the perfection of God and man ultimately demands the relinquishment of all belief in a power and presence unlike good. Faithful obedience to the First Commandment (Ex. 20:3), "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," requires human thought to abandon its opinions based upon material sense testimony. This must be done before the Christlike understanding of infinite Love and its perfect manifestation can be fully achieved and enjoyed.
There is no reservation in Christian Science for anything less than complete acknowledgment of the operation of good in every avenue of thought. Mary Baker Eddy says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 118): "Human will must be subjugated. We cannot obey both God, good, and evil,—in other words, the material senses, false suggestions, self-will, selfish motives, and human policy." We must conform our views of business affairs, human relationships, home, health, finance, education, sport, politics, and international relationships to the law of perfect cause and perfect effect if we wish to demonstrate the invariable harmony of Soul in daily affairs.
The struggle to allow spiritual reality to become dominant over material belief goes on perpetually in human thought until erring will gives up its false notions in humble acceptance of the truth. The desire to retain just one small grievance or to cherish one resentment or criticism which seems humanly justifiable may attempt to elude detection, but wisdom will at length compel its excision.
Jacob recognized his errors and wrestled with them all night. This struggle was not an affliction but a blessing, for it brought Jacob's thought to a state of subjection, in which it was willing to let spiritual understanding overcome human opinion. The stubborn, willful belief in a mortal sense of life and intelligence gave way to a glimpse of man's spiritual nature, and the victory was a landmark in his experience, changing his entire nature and outlook and bringing to him an immediate betterment of life and circumstance.
In some measure the struggle at Peniel is repeated in every individual's human experience. The revealed truth of man's perfection and loveliness as the expression of God often meets resistance. Obstinate self-will would cling to the false sense of a neighbor as sick, sinful, and hateful and to circumstances as baneful and afflictive.
Christ Jesus was daily about his Father's business, rejecting the belief of sin, sickness, and poverty. Mrs. Eddy also knew the mental warfare in which evil seeks to gain acceptance as reality. Suggestions of loneliness, poverty, cruelty, injustice, and infidelity faded like shadows before her demonstration of purity and obedience to the one God, good. It is therefore with knowledge gained from experience that she writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 568), "Self-abnegation, by which we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in Christian Science." And she adds farther on (p. 569), "Every mortal at some period, here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed to God."
This is the daily task of every Christian Scientist and the means by which he fulfills his debt of gratitude to God. As the First Commandment is obeyed in thought and deed, human experience is lifted above the belief of suffering to an enjoyment of heavenly harmony. The sick are healed, the sorrowing are comforted, and old enmities are forgiven and forgotten in the establishment of the understanding of divine sonship and universal brotherhood.
The writer experienced proof of the healing power of self-abnegation when she fell backwards down a flight of fourteen stairs. The suggestion was strong that there was danger of her losing consciousness as a result of several severe blows on her head. However, many years of persistent effort to subjugate human will in accordance with the instruction from "Miscellaneous Writings" quoted in the first part of this article made it natural for her to reject this suggestion with the truth that man is the conscious expression of infinite Mind, forever upright and Godlike. On reaching the foot of the stairs, she was therefore ready to combat the further arguments of mortal mind which flooded thought.
Human policy suggested that it would be unwise for her to carry out her plan of driving through several miles of city traffic in order to visit a friend in need and that after such an experience it would indeed be more comfortable to stay at home. These willful thoughts and selfish motives were rejected. The allness of God was firmly declared, and the perfection of man as the reflection of God resolutely acted upon. The day's assignments were satisfactorily completed, including driving the car some fifty miles. Within a few days there was no memory of the incident apart from gratitude for the healing power of Christian Science.
The battle between good and evil for possession of thought is sometimes fierce. The desire for God's will to be established in consciousness even in the face of contradictory material evidence must be found adequate to overcome the obstinacy of human will.
Christian Science teaches that prayer is the humble acknowledgment of God's allness and that our petition is for grace to enable us to accept in full the implications of this assertion. Jesus prayed (Science and Health, p. 17), "Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme." Our prayer is that we may abandon the beliefs of mortal mind and the testimony of the corporeal senses and acknowledge as the only reality the all-power, presence, and operation of divine Principle, Love.
The invalid who longs for healing may well ask himself if he is prepared to know himself, as well as all creation, as the perfect expression of perfect Mind and to abandon all belief in a power and presence apart from good. Does he truly desire to acknowledge the supremacy of good in every aspect of living? This humble willingness to know God as All-in-all will do much to uncover and destroy the erring mortal belief which is the foundation of his suffering.
One is not alone in his individual Peniel. The messages of Truth are with him as surely as the angel was with Jacob in his ordeal. Through Christian Science, the truth is revealed which will bring human thought into subjection to Christ, Truth. Let each one cling to Truth's messages so that these finally take possession of his thought. Then will the light of healing dawn in radiant joy in his consciousness, blotting out the shadows of sickness and sorrow.
